


The Bet

by OptimisticLady



Series: time is not alone with you [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:22:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24306616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticLady/pseuds/OptimisticLady
Summary: The Hogwarts staff room was perhaps the most secretive place at the school. Not because of conversations about personal lives or badly behaved students; No, the Hogwarts staff room remained confidential because of the professors placing bets on which students would end up together. Unfortunately for half the professors at the school, the student Violet Merryworth put in a spanner in the works about betting Harry Potter with Ginny Weasley or Cho Chang.Ties in with my fic "Quietly Observant" - I would recommend you read that first! Mentions multiple pairings, but ultimately Harry/OC. Will be updated in accordance with progression in Quietly Observant so as to avoid specific spoilers.
Relationships: Cho Chang/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Series: time is not alone with you [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753495
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	1. Beginnings of an Anomaly

The staff room at Hogwarts was naturally - and ironically - the most secretive place in the entire school. Anything uttered in there absolutely did not leave that room under any circumstances. This rule had nothing to do with the fact the professors of Hogwarts would discuss their personal lives or badly behaved students, but rather because of the fact they liked to place bets on which students would end up together either at school or in adult life.

Nobody was entirely sure how it started (possibly through some offhand comment about how Pomona had seen two of the older girls kissing in a quiet corner of the Greenhouses), but it got the others thinking: what about the rest of the students? Who was kissing who? Who had crushes on who? Who would end up marrying who? It was a fun, harmless little game of theorising at first, but then of course it was Severus who had accidentally said - as a turn of phrase - “I would rather bet that…”

Thus, the dishing out of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts had begun. All of them collected into a pot and then handed off to the winner at the end of the school year, or split evenly if nobody got it correct or students broke up or got with someone else. It was only fair.

Then it got interesting when Harry Potter started Hogwarts.

He had his close friendships with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, but also a rather fun rivalry with Draco Malfoy. There was also an anomalous girl, Violet Merryworth, who had interactions with Potter but it didn’t seem like anything could even come from it. She wasn’t close enough.

As they were all first years, however, none of the teachers were particularly keen on placing bets on eleven year olds, until Severus rolled his eyes up at the notion. He slammed a few Galleons down on the table.

“Potter and Malfoy. They hate each other,” he said bluntly. Minerva sighed and added a few Galleons and Sickles to the pile.

“Potter and Weasley. They’re best friends after all.”

Filius added some money too. “Potter and Granger!” he squeaked. When everyone stared at him rather blankly, he merely shrugged. “It might be funny.”

Almost regrettably, Quirinus waved his wand and a piece of chalk floated up to one of the boards so he could start keeping a tally of who was betting on who. For the time being, the rest of the professors did not join in, and Albus kept an oddly close eye on the bet as it progressed throughout the year.

They had to change the rules a little.

None of them expected an outcome from some first years, so they had to create a second pool for the older students where it was more likely for something to actually happen (Minerva and Aurora won in good faith of Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater remaining together). The pool for Potter and those in his year would carry over until something significant happened; it would not be bound by the end of the school year, necessarily.

That worked out rather wonderfully on Valentine’s Day 1993: Filius had spied Potter being handed a singing Valentine card that appeared to be from one Ginny Weasley. Thus more money was thrown into the pot as they added in yet another potential pairing to mix.

Fuel was only added to the fire when Potter saved the Weasley girl from the Chamber of Secrets, although Irma informed them of an anomaly: Potter had been seen talking to the Merryworth girl in the library shortly after the fact. He was telling her to owl him that summer.

Curiouser and curiouser. Was Potter beginning to dote on Merryworth?

No, absolutely not. They all waved it off and said goodbye for the summer. The other pool of money to do with the older students was split evenly, and the money for Potter and his friends was locked away safely.

Arriving back in the September of 1993 brought only a couple of sixth years that piqued any interest between the professors and their strange bets. Minerva was keeping a close eye on Potter and the Merryworth girl, who were steadily becoming closer friends. Either way, it still didn’t seem warranted enough to add them to the board. She was a sweet girl - a  _ quiet _ girl - incredibly studious and kept her head down. Strange for a Gryffindor, but Minerva knew why the girl was in that house - to prove herself and her worth. It was obvious.

Then something strange happened one day.

One snowy day in December, Remus came bursting into the staff room at break looking more excited than anyone thought he even should be.

“Sorry - something rather interesting happened this past week. I found Mr Potter and Miss Merryworth practicing spells in my classroom,” he was smiling, and it made the rest of the teachers suspicious.  _ What was he getting at? _ “And now they have a rather…  _ exceptional _ dynamism in my class. We’ve got to add them to the board - no other way about it!”

They all looked between him and their board.

Surely… surely the anomaly wasn’t going to change the outcome… was it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This fic was inspired by a tumblr post about the Hogwarts professors shipping Harry off with people. Thought it might be fun to do a little spin off of my current WIP fic, "Quietly Observant." If you haven't read that, go ahead and please do! It'll provide more context for this in the long run and how I'm changing canon!


	2. The Falling Out

Remus’ suggestion that Potter and Merryworth were incredibly sweet together had the other teachers somewhat doubtful, until of course they started watching the two thirteen year olds like hawks. Only because he insisted they did; he was so adamant about their dynamism in his Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, that they simply had to see if he was right.

Rolanda was the first to confirm.

“Merryworth was riding Potter’s Firebolt around the Quidditch pitch on Friday evening. That girl has not gone near a broomstick since Flying Lessons finished at the end of first year,” she said during Monday break. 

“How much of that was Potter and Weasley trying to convince her to do it?” Minerva was still dubious about the ordeal: Merryworth stuck with Granger in Transfiguration, and it appeared Defence Against the Dark Arts was the only class they actually exhibited any outwardly exuberance of being friends.

Rolanda merely sank back in her seat, grumbling a little. That was when Severus decided to finally give his input on the Potter and Merryworth situation.

“As much as I  _ detest _ this game we’re all participants in…” he began, stroking his chin in deep thought. “His performance in Potions has become… let us say  _ adequate _ , since becoming closer with Miss Merryworth. She’s one of those rare Gryffindors who doesn’t irritate me, and she’s a good influence on Potter’s arrogance.”

Everyone ignored the comment about Potter supposedly being arrogant, and merely took on board the fact that even Severus had to admit there was something interesting going on.

Remus cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well - if people fancy shifting their money over to the Potter-Merryworth pool… I would suggest now is your best chance,” he said brightly.

Only Rolanda did.

Everyone else was still doubtful of the outcome between those particular students.

Then the  _ incident _ in the library happened: Willmott and Dexter Oaks coming to bully Merryworth, and thankfully Potter and Remus were nearby to help the girl out. On seeing how the girl sought comfort in Potter, Minerva started to change her mind about it all. She still did not move her money over into that pool, though, thinking that really - he was just the girl’s first true friend. Of course they would be close.

The atmosphere in the staff room was fairly awkward after that, particularly because the two offending students were from Severus and Filius’ houses, respectively.

“I truly don’t understand  _ why _ they would go to bully their own cousin…” Filius sighed sadly. “They have no reason to - her blood status shouldn’t matter at all…”

Severus flinched, and Remus shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Her… family issues are quite bizarre yet complex,” Remus said carefully. “I don’t know how  _ aware _ you are about the boys’ parents… and other aunt and uncle.”

“Don’t be coy, Remus, just say it as it is: they were loyal Death Eaters, back in the day,” Severus said with an eye roll. “And still are. I’m sure you can confirm?”

Frustrated and exasperated, Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes,” he breathed. “They still are. And they’ve passed on all those ideals to Willmott and Dexter. So to them, Filius, that is  _ every _ reason to go after Violet.”

It was rare for Remus to be so personal about the girl, considering he was now her teacher - but the rest of the Hogwarts staff knew he was a part of her family outside of school. They all knew that there would come a time where he’d have to talk about this and it was a shame that it wasn’t anything good.

Things died down until the end of the year, when Merryworth was a part of one of Potter’s misadventures in quite a big way. It left Severus seething after the rest of the staff found out she’d performed an excellent Banishing Charm on him, Remus was proud of her ability to be brave but felt horrific about the injury he’d caused her.

With the school year of 1993-1994 coming to a close, they all took the money from the generic pool that they had won (or lost) in regards to the other students, and safely tucked away everything else for the Potter pool.

One returning for the 1994 school year, it was duly noted how close Potter and Merryworth actually were - and that she was truly a part of that little group of friends now. When his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Minerva was truly thankful that Merryworth had stuck to his side when Weasley was clearly jealous of the unwanted outcome.

“I’m starting to see where Remus was going with this…” she mused one lunchtime.

“With what?” Moody growled from the corner, making her jump. They hadn’t actually properly introduced him to the game yet, as he rarely made appearances in the staff room. So naturally, Minerva explained the bet to him, and he chucked a few Galleons onto the Potter-Merryworth pool.

“Even  _ I’m _ still not banking on that outcome,” Pomona said as she watched Moody, who shrugged.

“They’re a right little pair in class,” he said. “He looks like he’d die for her sometimes.”

“Hmm, yes, we all heard about the little stint with the Imperius Curse…” Severus piped up. “Skipped Divination after that, not that I’d blame  _ anyone _ for doing so…” The snide remark wasn’t even challenged, as Sybil wasn’t even present. Besides - the rest of them all had the same thoughts about Divination anyway.

The First Task came and went, and that was when Minerva  _ finally _ got excited about Potter and Merryworth: because of the fact she’d just had to teach them how to dance in preparation for the Yule Ball.

“You should have seen them! The shyest I’ve ever seen them around each other!” She was giddy with the excitement. “He’ll ask her to the Ball in no time - mark my words!”

She was right, of course, but Potter had taken a lot longer to ask than she realised. She could see with every passing Transfiguration lesson that Merryworth’s hope was fading about him asking her - until Minerva spotted them walking off alone together one morning from breakfast.

Then when it actually came to the Yule Ball, she almost didn’t recognise Merryworth for a moment, but by  _ god -  _ if the two of them dancing didn’t look like that awkward stage of teenage love, she didn’t know what did! Even Severus approached her about it.

“Perhaps I should change my bet,” he murmured to Minerva, handing her a Gillywater. “That was a disgustingly…  _ romantic _ performance from the both of them.” The disdain on his face was clear as day, and it only made Minerva laugh.

Only, her high spirits would soon come crashing down.

Barely a few hours after Potter and Merryworth actually having a good time together, he was storming off and she was crying. The students were whispering to each other like mad already:

_ “Potter and Merryworth have fallen out!” _


End file.
